64 



;]11 of v/Jiich arc entirely diHtinct from those normal forms 

 wbicii tlio coTifitituont olornonts would asHurnc, if uncontrolled 

 Ly tlie ]ii'o-f>rinciplo. And then, a^uin, wlion tLo lit'o departs, 

 the Viivy ruji-tter in which it existed, and which it inouldod 

 with Kijch rnyntic power, Hpe(;dily becomes a mass of loatlisfjrne 

 rottcnncHH, and dissolves into its original elements. Huxley 

 is compelled to admit all this; but lie yet tries to save his 

 i'avourito theory by affirminjf^, — not in accordance with, but in 

 Kpite of logical s(;quence, — tliat the phenomena presented by 

 f>rotoplasm, livinr^ or dead, are its pi'op(;riios ; and that all 

 vitid action rnay Ijo sfiid to be; the result of the molecular forces 

 of the protophism which displays it.* How, I ask, can vital 

 action be the result of the molecular forces alone, when, 

 according to his own admission, the influence of pre-existing 

 living matter is shown by scientific observation to be necessary 

 to vit.'d jiction '{ The vital action is eh^arly the result, not of 

 moleculii,r forces, but of the life-principle operating on the 

 molecules. Jn denying this Huxley sacrifices his lo;^ic to his 

 theory; and he would do well to remember Tyndall's striking 

 words : — " There is in the true man of science a wish stronger 

 than the wish to have his beliefs upheld — namely, to have them 

 true. And the stronger wish causes him to reject the most 

 plausible support, if he has reason to suspect thiit it is vitiated 

 by (;rror. Those to whom 1 refer as having studied the ques- 

 tion, believing the evidence offered in favour of spontaneous 

 generation to be thus vitiated, cannot accept it. They know 

 full well that the chemist now prepares from inorganic matter 

 a vast array of substiuices which were some time ago regarded 

 n,s the sole prrjducts of vitidity. 'J^liey are intimately M,c([uaint(;d 

 with the structural pow(;r of matter as evidenced in the 

 phenomena of crystallisation ; they can justify, scientifically, 

 their belief in its potency, under proper conditions, to produce 

 orga.nisms ; but in reply to your question they will frankly 

 admit their inaln'lity to point to any satisfactory experimental 

 proof tliJit life c!i,n be developed save from demonsti'able ante- 

 cedent life." And his final d(;liver;i.nce is contaiiied in these 

 words: — " \u fiict, the whole process of (3Volution is tin; 

 manifestation of a power absolutely inscrutable to the intellect 

 of man. As little in our days as in the days of Job can man 

 by searching find this power out. Considered fundamentally, 

 then, it is Ity the operation of an insoluble mystery thiit lifeoji 

 earth is evolved, f To the same effect Herbert Spencer 

 writes: — ''The consciousness of an inscrutable power mani- 



* Liiy HtrvuiHK, [I. I'M, \ .'.ildresii. 



